Too much or too little
by The fox and the wolf
Summary: AU: John Watson always knew he was special. Even since he was born many people had looked at him differently. But they don't know the half of it, because John is different. In a world where humans can become one animal and he can become many he is classed as an outsider. That is until he meets the mysterious Sherlock Holmes who is just as strange as himself.


**Too much or too little**

**SUMMARY:**

**John Watson always knew he was special. Even since he was born many people had looked at him differently. But they don't know the half of it, because John is different. In a world where humans can become one animal and he can become many he is classed as an outsider. That is until he meets the mysterious Sherlock Holmes who is just as strange as himself. **

John Watson always knew he was special. From the moment he came out of the womb everyone treated him differently. Some looked at him strangely, other's with wonder and some with disgust and hate. He supposed that he was different but the ones who gave him those stares didn't know half of it.

Everyone on the planet had the ability to become an animal. In the first few years of their lives they would be able to change. It was always only one animal of course, your soul animal. It was supposed to show who or what you were inside.

As soon as you shifted for the first time your eyes would go from human to the eyes of the animal that you could become. It was weird for a while, having your eyes change so drastically, but many were used to it quickly due to their young age.

When John had come out of the womb his eyes had been a greyish blue. That wasn't why he was treated differently to everyone else, god no, but the fact that as soon as he left her body his mother had smiled at him before her eyes had slipped close and her heart had stopped.

It was rare for mother's to die while giving birth, but his mother did.

When he was five he changed for the first time.

He would never forget the fear he had felt as his body shifted and formed, becoming that of a lion. Not much of a lion considering his age but a lion nevertheless.

That was when the stares began. Because John Watson may have shifted a few years late, but the real startling thing was the fact that his eyes had stayed the same.

Stayed human.

Which never happened, and he meant never.

A week later he shifted again, but this time he became a German Sheppard.

Which was completely and utterly impossible considering that did not happen. You only had one animal, one thing that you could become but it seemed that that rule didn't apply to him as soon he was able to change at will into almost any animal. Well except bugs but seriously who would want to become a bug?

He kept his abilities a secret of course, sticking to his Lion form. It was easier that way, to fool people into thinking you were just some weird guy that could become a Lion. It was better than being a freak. Well he was a freak anyway but it was better than being a huge freak.

Even if he always stuck to this rule, his eyes always betrayed him. The human orbs always attracting the wrong sort of attention. He was bullied a lot in school despite being able to become a fearsome predator.

As he grew so did the creatures inside of him. He found that any animal that he could picture in his head he could become but it was always associated with his age. He stuck to the lion of course, for it was the only one that people knew he could become.

He wasn't actually accepted until he joined the army. When you are fighting in a war there seems to be less trouble from your comrades. For the first time in his life he made friends. The main one being a man named Joseph.

Joseph who could become a Bengal Tiger at will. Who just so happened to enjoy killing a little too much for John's taste but he would take friends where he could get them.

"Come on Watson!" Joseph had called as they ran across the field. He was in full tiger form, having found it easier to change while actually fighting. He could always change back, the gun strapped to his striped back. John was in a similar state though unlike his comrade, he was actually trying not to get shot.

The larger soldiers that could become predators were running alongside them. From wolves to Leopards, they ran as one towards the enemy. The ones who could become birds of prey flew above and relayed messages back to the base where the average men just ran with their guns out at the enemy. It wasn't very useful turning into an otter half way through battle after all.

When John had first started fighting in this war a few years ago he had been a doctor. For the first few tours at least but then they seemed to realise what he could become and how good a fighter he was and John was offered to train as a soldier. An offer that he had taken after almost being killed one battle.

It was weird, the running before two sides collided. It was as if the entire world was going in slow motion that would speed up again when the collision was made. Adrenaline surged through his veins, his long and powerful legs making it so he was practically flying across the sandy ground. His golden coat provided brilliant camouflage that would be great if he had to sneak up on the enemy. Instead he was charging them head on.

When they hit, time sped up again. It seemed almost as if it was going too fast. A huge Jaguar was the first to reach him, jumping on him and going for the jugular.

John was faster, slashing the creatures throat with his claws with a single strike as soon as it was in range. Blood hit the ground, causing the predators, mainly the lion, to go crazy within him.

He jumped forward, back into battle. The clicking of a gun caused his ears to prickle slightly as he turned and snarled at the man aiming a rifle right at his head. His finger was on the trigger, ready to end John's life.

Joseph was faster, knocking the man down from the side and tearing into his throat with his mighty fangs. When he raised his head, his teeth were dripping with blood.

Trying to ignore the disturbing sight, John turned away and pounced on another soldier. Animals and soldiers alike fell in the battle. Blood covered his fur, staining the beautiful coat a deep red. His mane was knotted and bloody, heavy on his head and neck.

His teeth and claws were blood read and his eyes were wide and furious. He supposed that if anyone had looked at him now, he would look as if he were just a mad beast.

A mad beast with human eyes of course.

A roar of pain to his left made him turn, eyes searching for the source of the noise. He found it quickly enough though to be fair it was hard to miss Joseph fighting off the gigantic polar bear.

The beast was huge, towering over his friend with ease. Its mouth was dripping with blood, Joseph limping slightly as he circled it. Fresh blood oozed from the wound on his friends side that could have been from the Polar Bear's claws but in this battle it was impossible to be sure.

It was obvious who was going to win this fight of course. A tiger fighting a Polar Bear was no contest. Joseph's ears flattened as he crouched, ready to jump onto the beast. His lips curled, revealing long red teeth. Green eyes stared into the Polar Bears before he leaped.

John didn't even realise he was running until he stood on a knife. He ignored the pain in his paw, running faster and faster. Joseph was on the creatures back in a matter of seconds, digging his claws into the creatures back and trying to bite. The Polar Bear was fast unfortunately, fighting the tiger off.

It didn't seem to be doing much until the Polar Bear rolled, causing Joseph to have to jump off the great creature so that he wouldn't be crushed.

"Joseph!" He yelled when the Polar Bear turned, its claws wracking against his friend's back. Jumping forward he sunk his teeth into the monsters neck.

The effect wasn't instant like he had hoped but it was obvious that he had hit home. The Bear roared and struggled but John held on.

That was until he heard the loud shot of a gun and a horrible pain in his right shoulder blade.

Falling to the ground, he cried out. Joseph made quick work of the gunner obviously but he couldn't help but close his eyes in pain. The next thing he knew he wasn't a Lion, but John Watson once more. His eyes were open, watching the battle around him. His shoulder from front to back was bleeding horribly and pooling around him.

The Polar Bear was dead besides him and suddenly he felt like closing his eyes and sleeping. It looked peaceful, the Bear's eyes closed and its mouth open.

He felt strong hands grip his naked form, "John stay with me!"

Joseph's voice was loud and clear but he ignored them. He was so tired. Too tired to be honest. Even the pain was starting to be numbed by his tiredness.

So he closed his heavy eyelids, ignoring the screams of his best friend that were in the background. He would wake up soon.

Hopefully.

Sherlock Holmes had always been different. From the moment he was born people had treated him differently but he supposed that was because he was just so strange.

Of course, people treated him stranger because of his eyes. They were a beautiful colour, changing from Green to blue to grey. But the strangest thing about him had to be the fact that was the only thing that changed about him.

Sherlock Holmes never changed. He always stayed human, never becoming any animal.

While his schoolmates changed all the time, he was always stuck in his human form. Though he supposed it wasn't so bad, considering they were all bumbling fools. They thought they were brilliant because they could become a hedgehog. Bah!

He was different in another sense. Sherlock could tell everything about a person with one look as soon as he turned fifteen. When he turned twenty he could do it with a glance and when he turned twenty five he could do it with a single feature. Well most of the time anyway.

Everybody hated it of course, the boy who couldn't even become an animal could tell everything about them as if they were their closest friend. Actually more than that because you didn't even tell your closest friend some of the things Sherlock saw.

School was never fun for Sherlock. Most of the time he was showing off his intellect. It was quite fun to have so many people telling him to shut up.. Almost as if he WASN'T right. Which never happened of course, because Sherlock was always right. Well on occasion he missed maybe one or two details but that was it.

So Sherlock spent most of his school years learning as much as he could on important things. He had to sit out of the changing classes, mainly because he couldn't actually change. That was fine with him though, he despised the idea of getting nude in front of the class and becoming some animal. What was so special about changing anyway? Everyone could do it. Even his brother Mycroft could become a tabby cat.

As the years grew he became more and more advanced. Unfortunately his brilliant intelligence wasn't good enough to land him any decent jobs. He wanted to be a detective but working as a low level cop for several years didn't appeal to him. Especially considering how stupid most of the force was.

So at age thirty, Sherlock Holmes became the worlds first Consulting detective.

Unfortunately for him his business didn't exactly boom. Which was stupid considering he had most cases solved in less than half an hour. Nothing really interesting ever popped up unless an inspector that he had made friends with in the later years would invite him on one of his cases.

It wasn't until he got his flat blown up, accidently of course because how was he to know that mixing two harmless chemicals would cause such a reaction? He had been bored!

So now he was sleeping in a motel room, all alone and needing to get a flat. However there weren't enough flats out there that he wouldn't be able to get a flat mate with. And there was no way that he was getting a flat mate with anybody. He despised people and knew they would only ruin his experiments.

He sighed as he closed another paper, the housing obviously not enough to cater for his needs and lay on his bed. He would go to the morgue in the morning, maybe there was a nice murder for him.

When John awoke, he was lying in a hospital. Well you could probably call it that considering it wasn't the best thing in the world but it was still the closest you could get to a hospital out here. A woman was smiling over him, one of the nurses probably.

"John," She smiled, "I'm glad you're awake."

"Where am I?" he asked, even though the answer was obvious. To be fair he had just been shot.

"You're at base camp. You were shot in the shoulder. The wound was very serious." Was her reply.

"I thought you were dead," A voice from his right called and he turned. A man with black hair and green cat eyes stared back at him, a smile on his face. "You gave me a right scare."

"Sorry Joseph. I'm sure I won't do that next time."

Joseph's expression now turned sad and John felt his heart start to pound with worry. He hated when people did that, when their faces turned sad so quickly. It meant bad news and John hated bad news.

"John," Joseph started, "The wound was very serious."

"Meaning?" John asked. Vaguely he wondered if it was fatal but then again, he wouldn't be awake if it was. Or maybe he was going to die any minute. It was hard to tell with injuries like these.

"Meaning that they're discharging you," Joseph sighed, "You're going back to London."

**Please review? **


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